Tags:
Television Show: American Horror Story: Season 5: Hotel
Year: 2015
Creators: Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk
Starring: Kathy Bates, Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters
Review:
This season takes place in the Hotel Cortez where there is a lot of weird things live. We start off with two women checking in, played by Helena Mattsson and Kamilla Alnes. Running the front desk is Kathy Bates and she doesn’t get along with the two. She takes them up to their room. They don’t make it through the night before they are taken to something similar to an Iron Maiden.
Also in this hotel is a couple, played by Matt Bomer and Lady Gaga. They are both vampires and they go out into the world to find their victims and bring them back to drain them of their life. There is a group of missing children as well that has been turned and will forever be children. There is even a secret room for video games for the children.
Working with Bates is a man that dresses as a woman; he is played by Denis O’Hare. We learn as the season goes on that he stayed in the hotel and met with Gaga, who opened up his deepest desires and helped him become himself.
There is a detective, played by Wes Bentley. He is called to a murder scene by another detective, played by Richard T. Jones. At this scene, there is a man, who is still alive, with a woman on top of him. The man is still inside of her as they were making love, but his eyes have been removed as well as his tongue cut out. There is a spear through her and both of them are nailed to the headboard. It is through more murders that are as grisly that there is a serial killer, who started this back about 40 years, who is taking care of those that do not follow the ten commandments from the bible. He is dubbed the Ten Commandments Killer.
This hotel is also haunted by anyone who dies there. Evan Peters plays a serial killer who built the hotel and set this place up as his own murder playground. There are soundproof walls, hidden chutes and things to this nature so he could kill. The problem though is that anyone he kills haunts the hotel. With him is the maid he employed, who is played by Mare Winningham, and she is great at getting stains out of the linens.
Bentley is also married to a doctor, who is played by Chloë Sevigny. They have a daughter, played by Shree Crooks. They did have a son, but he was kidnapped about five years ago and the family really never recovered from this. Sevigny and Bentley end up seeing a child in the hotel that looks eerily similar to him though.
The hotel actually gets purchased by a famous designer, played by Cheyenne Jackson. He moves in with is son, played by Lyric Angel, while they are going to renovate it. This doesn’t sit well with Peters and Gaga sets her sights on him as well, for another reason. This is much to the displeasure of Bomer.
This show also has a former lover of Gaga that she turned into a vampire, played by Angela Bassett. She has a deep grudge against her and has been biding her time until she can extract her revenge for Gaga discarding her in the past.
There is also a junky that is played by Sarah Paulson that we learn has fallen in love with Bentley. She originally was in love with Bomer until Bates pushed her out of a window. Bates is actually Bomer’s mother as well. He despises her though.
Sarah Paulson is also in this season as a junkie who is trying to find true love, she has ended up leading a lot of potential lovers to their death, by her hand as well as by others in the hotel.
Who is the Ten Commandments Killer? It was originally Peters, but he has been dead and stuck in the hotel. Who took over his mantel? We learn the truth on Devil’s Night when some of the most notorious serial killers come for dinner and sport. Can Bentley figure out the truth? Will Paulson ever find her true love? Can Bates get Bomer back? Or will Gaga discard him like she has with every other lover? Will Gaga get Jackson’s money? Or will Gaga finally meet her match? Will O’Hare find true love? Will Bassett get her revenge? What will become of this hotel where no one seems to ever escape alive?
I have to say that I liked this season of American Horror Story. It still doesn’t beat the first season for me, which was amazing, but this one was good. I love that they have tied back in characters from previous seasons as well as incorporate more to show that things are all interconnected. Examples is that Christine Estabrook is the one that sells the hotel to Jackson, she was the realtor from Season 1. I also like that Gaga goes to Murder House back when she was still alive for an abortion. I also like that this show will use historical things as well. This show has some of the greatest serial killers of all time that come on Devil’s Night, like the ‘Night Stalker’ Richard Ramirez or Jeffrey Dahmer. Something I picked up on earlier as well is Peters’ character is based on one of the most nototrious, yet unknown serial killers in United States history H.H. Holmes. This season introduces vampires, but I also like that it did what Season 1 did by having ghosts play a major role as well. The great thing is that there are so many rooms that they could be more spaced out as well. I also thought that the acting was good as well.
Personally I’m not sure what this season was lacking that didn’t put it up there with season for one me. At times I was bored with what was happening, but I still really liked the season. There was a storyline of vampire children that Sevigny is to blame for, I wasn’t a huge fan of. There is a faceless monster that rapes people that was never explained. I was confused by the cutting of the mattresses and then these creatures would come out. That wasn’t explained either. I would have liked to understand these things more, but we never really got that. I’m big on story so that disappointed me personally.
Now with that said, I liked this season. I thought hotel was solid by introducing vampires as well as bringing back ghosts. The acting was good and tying in previous seasons to this one was something I really enjoyed. I also like that this show constantly ties in famous people and events from the past and it just enhances the story for me when I understand what they are doing. This isn’t the best season, but I would put it up there as one of the better ones. If you like the show, I would recommend giving this one a viewing. I still would say to watch Season 1 to get hooked. It is fun to watch all the way through to see how they can be interconnected as well.
My Rating: 8 out of 10